Whereas Christmas, a holiday of great significance to Americans and many other cultures and nationalities, is celebrated annually by Christians throughout the United States and the world;

Whereas there are approximately 225,000,000 Christians in the United States, making Christianity the religion of over three-fourths of the American population;

Whereas there are approximately 2,000,000,000 Christians throughout the world, making Christianity the largest religion in the world and the religion of about one-third of the world population;

Whereas Christians identify themselves as those who believe in the salvation from sin offered to them through the sacrifice of their savior, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and who, out of gratitude for the gift of salvation, commit themselves to living their lives in accordance with the teachings of the Holy Bible;

Whereas Christians and Christianity have contributed greatly to the development of western civilization;

Whereas the United States, being founded as a constitutional republic in the traditions of western civilization, finds much in its history that points observers back to its roots in Christianity;

Whereas on December 25 of each calendar year, American Christians observe Christmas, the holiday celebrating the birth of their savior, Jesus Christ;

Whereas for Christians, Christmas is celebrated as a recognition of God’s redemption, mercy, and Grace; and

Whereas many Christians and non-Christians throughout the United States and the rest of the world, celebrate Christmas as a time to serve others: Now, therefore be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives–

(1) recognizes the Christian faith as one of the great religions of the world;

(2) expresses continued support for Christians in the United States and worldwide;

(3) acknowledges the international religious and historical importance of Christmas and the Christian faith;

(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by Christians and Christianity in the founding of the United States and in the formation of the western civilization;

(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Christians, both in the United States and worldwide; and

(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Christians and Christians throughout the world.

The House voted on it today. It passed, 372 – 9. (Many congresspeople were present and took no position on the bill or were absent from voting altogether.)

As someone with a Christian background, I can safely say this may be the silliest resolution ever introduced by, or voted upon, by Congress, although I am a little curious to see if anyone will vote against it.

Do we really need Congress to say Christmas and the Christian faith are important? Isn’t that pretty self evident by now? Don’t Christians already pretty much run everything in this country, except for the mainstream media, which is of course controlled by a Jewish-Illuminati-Bill Gates cabal? Don’t we already get Dec. 25 off? Wasn’t I forced to shell out $65 for a scrawny Christmas tree this weekend? Won’t I have to go to Pentagon City or some other godforsaken place and spend more money in the next couple weeks as part of this strange ritual? What about the terrible songs that get endlessly recycled year after stinking year? And the useless catalogs that clog my mailbox, despite my efforts to get off mailing lists? Where will the horror end?

Since it’s merely a Resolution, and does not have the force of law, I doubt that it technically violates the First Amendment. However, it certainly isn’t in the spirit of the Constitution.

I think we should all remember this vote next time someone claims that only the Republicans are in the pockets of the religious right.

http://blueshifted.org Andy

Surely the Founders were remiss for failing to explicitly deny Congress the power to pass insipid, non-binding resolutions. I wonder what this cost us, in terms of salaries and forgone legislative business.

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/fole0091/epistaxis Epistaxis

I wonder what this cost us, in terms of salaries and forgone legislative business.

Watch C-SPAN. The forgone legislative business won’t be missed.

Aj

If you think this type of shit only happens in America, you should be comforted that you’re not the worst, but perhaps not if you ever look to Europe as a shining light of rationalism. The German Chancellor tried quite hard to get very similar words in the constitution for the EU, about Christianity being its culture, history, and values, along with other Christian leaders. Last time I checked parties with “Christian” in their name were leading Germany and Holland.

However, it’s a little better in the UK, where Blair wrote that if he had said that God was guiding his decision (which he claims) the British public would have thought him mad. While in power his spokesperson said “we don’t do God”. So far the new prime church minister is being vague, his father was a minister (or some other sort of faith peddler), and he says things about it giving him a “moral compass”.

The Democrats weren’t secularists before but since the Religious Right got more attention from the Republicans the Democrats seem to think they have to pander harder and harder. They won’t give up any social liberal stances so they’re more than happy to give up the separation of church and state as long as their church gets equal power.

JeffN

Merry Christmas. Heh. Heh. Heh.

With an election year coming up what do you expect.

http://greaterumbrage.blogspot.com Gabe

Since it’s merely a Resolution, and does not have the force of law,

Still, it just makes my jaw drop that they’re wasting time and money on such a stupid thing. Then again, keeping up with the news these days, it really shouldn’t be.

What the hell is the point of this resolution? Goddamn our government pisses me off sometimes (sometimes = 95% of the time). BAH humbug, I say.

http://del.icio.us/jcchurch pshaw

What about the Establishment Cla…. oh never mind. It won’t do me any good.

http://youmademesayit.blogspot.com PhillyChief

Something to wave to their christian constituents. Pure crap. Oh look at me, I’m defending x-mas from those godless bastards who mean to deny you your rights and your faith. Blah blah blah.

What’s on for tomorrow? How about HR 848, the resolution recognizing the importance of toilet paper and faith in a clean bum?

Vincent

I want a resolution that pointless resolutions are a hindrance on the smooth running of Congress and an insult to the American people.

Tolga K.

Sure, it’s only a resolution. But the statements resolved upon now make it acceptable to base policy off of endorsement of Christianity.

It seriously disturbs me.

Let’s try throwing the same in for all other religions and also atheists… see what happens.

Cade

It’s a little strange to point out that more Democrats than Republicans voted in favor of this bill. There are simply more Democrats than Republicans in the House. All of the people who voted against it were Democrats and I think that’s more to the point.

Still, this type of resolution doesn’t help anyone except the religious right. I thought that Pete Stark has mentioned many more than eight other non-religious congressmen. Did they only vote for the resolution because it would hurt their political career?

http://enonomi.blogspot.com/ EnoNomi

I tried to write to the nine who voted no to say thank you, but everyone’s office has blockers so you can only email if you’re within their district. So I emailed my representative the following:

Shame on you for voting for House Resolution 847 to “Recognize the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith.” I am not a Christian. I do not believe in the supernatural. And while I enjoy any holiday that gives me a paid day off from work accompanied by rich food and festive lighting, I don’t enjoy the constant threat against reason from superstition. The separation between Church and State is growing ever thinner and I’m saddened that you were not one of the nine representatives willing to stand up to enforce that line. America is not a Christian nation, it was not founded as a Christian nation, Christians are not being assailed by secularists — if anything it’s the non-Christians that are being assailed — and the United States should not be on a mission to defend worldwide Christianity against its enemies.

Only nine were willing to stand up and say “No” to theocracy. You weren’t one of them. Shame on you.

I just wrote my Congresssman and I suggest everyone do the same if yours voted for this nonsense. Even if they wimped out and didn’t vote, let them know what you think of that, too.

Erik

I think now they need to pass this one…

WHEREAS the television show “Seinfeld” is one of the most beloved television series of all time.

WHEREAS many Americans do not identify with the Christian concept of Christmas and stand in need of an alternative.

WHEREAS the celebration of Festivus is know as the celebration for “the rest of us”

WHEREAS the concept of Festivus put forth on Seinfeld is both hilarious and growing in actual practice.

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives–

(1) recognizes the Festivus as one of the great celebrations of the world;

(2) expresses continued support for Festivus celebrations in the United States and worldwide;

(3) acknowledges the international cultural and historical importance of Sienfeld and the celebration of Festivus;

(4) acknowledges and supports the role played by “Seinfeld” in the founding of seriously funny comedy;

(5) rejects bigotry and persecution directed against Festivus, both in the United States and worldwide; and

(6) expresses its deepest respect to American Festivus celebrators and Festivus celebrators throughout the world.

Rob

I just wrote my rep and would encourage anyone who believes in the seperation of church and state to do the same. We laugh at countries like Turkey where the elected officials pander to Islam but are completely blind to the hypocracy of our leaders officially promoting Christianity. I am ashamed by our leadership.

steve

Here’s another re-write exercise that I think brings out how fantastically offensive this resolution really is: under “Resolved”, in each clause except 3, for every occurrence of “Christians” substitute “Whites”, for every occurrence of “the Christian faith” or “Christianity” substitute “the white race”, and for “religions” substitute “races”.

The result is too offensive and shameful to actually write out and would never have been approved by a modern congress. Yet this rewrite is as plausibly truthful as the original.

Thank god I live in Lynn Woolsey’s district!

http://enonomi.blogspot.com/ EnoNomi

Cheers Erik!

I can totally get behind a Festivus resolution.

http://heathendad.blogspot.com/ HappyNat

Thanks for the breakdown, Phillychief. My rep is a “No Vote”. Does that mean she wussed out and didn’t vote or could it be she was absent? I’m not a big fan anyway but I don’t want to rip her in an e-mail if she wasn’t there.

http://www.robinlionheart.com/ Robin Lionheart

Resolved that the House of Representatives:

(1) recognizes the majority is great;

(2) will continue to pander to the majority;

(3) acknowledges that the majority had a role in creating civilization, so stop denying it;

Just sent my Rep a message about this as well. I’m in Portland Or, which is fairly liberal and not very religious. I doubt that my Rep would have been hurt by either voting no or not voting on this resolution as there aren’t many hard core Christians around here to pander to. So I just had to ask him why he voted for it.

So when can I expect to see a bunch of similar resolutions from the House proclaiming their “continued support” and “deepest respect” for all the other non-Christian religions and also non-religious that comprise our country? Surely they don’t mean to imply that they favor Christians over all the rest of us? I’m sure they want to maintain the appearance of impartiality toward religion, dont’ they?

I won’t hold my breath.

Kevin Malone

“Christianity neither is, nor ever was a part of the common law.”

— Thomas Jefferson, letter to Dr. Thomas Cooper, February 10, 1814

Why do you hate America, Mr. Jefferson?

Dan

I just wrote my rep and let him know I am disgusted with our so called leaders.

SunWorshiper

I just e-mailed Heather Wilson (R-NM) who is my representative and expressed my extreme displeasure.

Kate

I e-mailed a bunch of people, Hemant. I’m outraged. They’re writing to their reps, and Erik’s hoping to get some of his Christian friends to do the same.

*Everyone* needs to be against this, non-Christians and Christians and other religions. It’s disgusting that this passed.

txatheist

I wrote my official. I think I just wasted 5 minutes of my life on the letter but I feel better. My rep wins because he has an R by his name at the voting booth.

http://rickybarnes1960.zaadz.com/ Ricky Barnes

Although the resolution may be nonbinding, it is nevertheless a dangerous turn of events. You can pretty much guarantee the fact this resolution passed with such high numbers will be used at some point as support for actions that WILL be binding on all of us. You are right to say this is a gross violation of the spirit of the first amendment if not a violation to the letter of it. If Congress wishes to be seen as “government of the people” – i.e., of ALL of the people, it ought to hastily pass a resolution honoring the philosophies (which includes any religion one might name) of all of the people. This resolution smacks of favoritism in the eyes of our government which is the gross violation of the spirit of the Constitution of which I speak. The names of those who voted in favor of this resolution ought to burned into all of our minds. They betrayed the principles of freedom and justice for all.

Laws are not created to protect the majority. They are created to protect those whose views are in the minority from unreasonable and irrational compulsion by others. If Christianity is important, it is in the fact it will heavily influence the loss of individual freedoms in this country and around the world. It already has and, because that particular philosophy encourages such oppression of individuality and diversity, will no doubt continue to do so.

Mriana

What? They want a Religious State ran county? This reads like Christianity is the official religion of the U.S. Our government has lot their minds and need to be kicked out of office. Surely this has to be unconstitutional. I will still say “Happy Holidays”, but this makes me want to say, “Bah Humbug!” What does the FFRF say about this? What does the any other Secular group say about this? Surely someone is going to fight it. I certainly hope so because this is just wrong, IMHO. Respect Christians, but disrespect everyone else? Is that it? That is the precisely where they are screwing up too. I’m very disappointed, but at least 9 of them were on our side. This whole thing is UNBELIEVABLE!

Wasyl

I had to check to see if Ron Paul voted yes, luckily he missed the vote, I would have had a hard time supporting him with this on his record.

Theocracy is “in.” Remember, we need to remain polarized against Iran (whose populace is actually the most America-friendly in the Middle East, unlike its current ruling government), if not the rest of the world. And the US has always been all about hegemony.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot???

Is this country messed up, or just most of its people?

Richard Wade

Here is another resolution that is making its way through the hallowed halls of Congress:

RESOLUTION

Recognizing the importance of covering our asses.

Whereas both Houses of Congress are a bunch of obsequious sycophants who will bend over forward and crack a smile for every single vote and have less integrity and principles than a fifty-eight year-old D.C. hooker with more implants than teeth and;

Whereas most members of Congress don’t really give a flying rat’s ass about religion but know that pandering to believers and pretending to believe in their idiotic rewriting of US history is every Congressman’s bread and butter and;

Whereas Congress has recently passed yet another pointless resolution to placate a small but pesky troupe of churchy folk who, when they’re not buttonholing airport passengers rushing to make their flights, haunt the halls of the Capitol with their cloying and annoying lobbying for Christian this and Christian that and Christian everything under the sun until Congressmen can’t even escape from it in the restrooms where there’s enough weird stuff going on under the stalls already and;

Whereas that darned First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States clearly makes it a no-no to either endorse or oppose any religion and;

Whereas the only way to get around this obvious violation of the spirit of that darned First Amendment is to adhere to such lofty principles of equity like “what’s fair is fair,” and “if one gets it then they all gotta get it too,” and “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander,” and “did you bring enough candy for everybody or are you just gonna be selfish,” by coming up with yet even another pointless resolution recognizing all the other non-Christian faiths and all their holidays and holy days and whatnot; Now, therefore be it

Resolved that both houses of Congress (so we can get this over with and go on another recess) will hereby placate any other religious wing-nut who comes in whining about not being given an equal tongue bath as was given to the Christians, by acknowledging the importance and wonderfulness and worthiness and whatever fawning sycophantic compliments like the unctuous ingratiations of that weasel Eddie Haskell in Leave it to Beaver are necessary to laud in great suffocating heaps of flowery flattery upon any and all other religions, sects creeds and all their innumerable sub groups and sub-sub groups including but not limited to Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, the Quanza guys, Wicca, Zoroastrianism, Animism, Raelianism Paganism, Deism, Pantheism, Satanism, Shamanism, Shintoism, Druidism, Pastafarianism, Taoism, Sikhism, Indigenous people’s spiritualisms, and any other isms that either we can’t find in Wikipedia or we forgot or haven’t been cooked up yet, but don’t worry there’s plenty of room at the bottom of this Resolution to write more in and we can add separate sheets if necessary and;

Resolved that none of all this disingenuous derriere kissing necessarily means anything and is instantly null and void for as long as we need it to be when and if we’re confronted by any irate Christians who ask us what the hell are we doing even acknowledging any of the above non-Christian stuff, but it is instantly reinstated when they leave.

We, the Congress of the United States of America hereby proudly pass this august and momentous Resolution with all the profound earnestness, sincerity and solemnity that it deserves.

Kate

Found one dumb enough to have posted a real e-mail address instead of a form (and he voted yes on the resolution): howard.coble@mail.house.gov

There were previous resolutions regarding Ramadan and Diwali, and they were all unanimous! (though it’s my understanding that Diwali is a secular celebration)

So I think it’s a little disingenuous to paint this as the House just sitting around and highlighting only Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, all of these resolutions look like a waste of time. But it is not as singled-out as the commenters here would make it sound.

What bothers me are the idiots who voted yes for the other resolutions but no for the Christianity resoultion (even though HR847 was probably done out of spite). They do no service to secular causes — It just plays into the hands of those who view everything as an attack on Christianity in particular, and the “War on Christmas” whining can continue…

Whereas all the possible above-mentioned things and/or bodies deserve recognition for every and/or any of the nice stuff that might make them worthy of recognition for whatever and/or whatany, now therefore be it

Resolved that the House of Representatives and/or the Senate and/or anybody and/or anything in this silly government recognizes that all and/or any of the above is great, and/or all and/or any of the above is worthy of recognition and/or acknowledgment and/or support and/or praise and/or respect and/or whatever and/or whatany and;

Resolved that Congress and/or any other part of this silly government rejects bigotry against all and/or any of the above, and;

Resolved that all and/or any of this Resolution is null and/or void in all and/or any case where it makes us look bad.

Richard Wade

This brings to mind the Monty Python sketch called “Election Night Special” featuring the Sensible Party, the Slightly Silly Party, the Silly Party and the Very Silly Party.

We’re already being led by the Silly Party and the Very Silly Party. Which one is which is up to you. It doesn’t really matter, does it?

Thom

Good catch, Mike.

According to the voting log, “atheist hero” Stark voted thumbs up to Ramadan. No foolish consistencies for him, I guess.

http://literaghost.blogspot.com/ literaghost

Well, I wrote a letter. Not sure if it’ll do much good, but we’ll see.

– Miz L.

cheri

maybe the reason king felt it necessary to reiterate the importance of Christianity to the 90% of Americans who are Christians is because the government felt it was necessary to pass this resolution in October telling muslims how wonderful ramadan is and how we should all respect it. Here is the link to the US go site where our elected officials pay homage to our fellow muslims. No i didnt make this up: http://usinfo.state.gov/xarchives/display.html?p=washfile-english&x=20071003165444mlenuhret0.9762384&m=October oh – and Merry Christmas everyone.

http://danielkitta.org/ Daniel Elstner

Well, I agree that the resolution is annoying, but this is just a wee bit over the top:

Only nine were willing to stand up and say “No” to theocracy. You weren’t one of them. Shame on you.

By writing a letter worded like that, I think you made it easy for him to ignore you, and to feel justified harboring whatever stereotypes about atheists he happens to harbor. The resolution doesn’t turn the US into a theocracy. Not even close. In fact it does nothing at all.

This is a tricky subject for letters to representatives, since the resolution is all just words. No action is actually taken, thus it isn’t easy to avoid talking about feelings, unfortunately. Hm OK, there’s still the wasted money theme, but that feels a bit weak.

Hm, perhaps it would help if Christians sent letters criticizing the grandstanding on grounds of humility, which Christians are supposed to display. And pointing out that Christians aren’t persecuted in the US while they’re at it. Something along these lines. Just no hyperbole about a supposed “theocracy”.

http://womanwithoutsuperstition.blogspot.com/ Sarah

All I can say is, eh…

There’s no First Amendment violation here, but it’s still a waste of time. Isn’t there a war in Iraq or something?

The First Amendment’s guarantee of religious liberty, and of the nonestablishment of religion, was devised to create a secular state in which all religions would be equally tolerated and none given preference. The language of the House resolution effectively undermines the design of the Founders, and creates an atmosphere where non-Christians will continue to be targeted, treated like second-class citizens, and even become victims of violence like those four Jewish subway riders in New York.

That’s just a small quote of what all they said about it and I hope CSH and other like groups manage to reverse this resolution because it is very rude to others- not just non-theists.

We call on the Congress to reject this resolution, to stand up for religious freedom, secularism, and pluralism, and to foster a climate in which all believers and nonbelievers alike are treated equally.

I agree with CSH and support them in this statement- the whole of their statement, not just what I quoted.

Thank you for contacting me about H. Res. 847, a resolution recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith. I truly appreciate hearing from you, and I am working hard to stand up for New Hampshire’s interests in Congress.

I strongly believe that all citizens should be allowed to practice their religion freely. The freedom of expression is an important part of the rights afforded to us in the First Amendment.

On December 11, 2007, H. Res 847 passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 392 to 9. Please know that I will keep your views in mind should any further legislation on religion come to the House floor.

I encourage you to continue to contact me about the issues that are important to you. Please visit our website http://www.hodes.house.gov where you can also sign up for my electronic newsletter and receive periodic updates on my activities as your Representative in Washington.

Sincerely, Paul Hodes Member of Congress”

Uh – IT’S ALREADY AFFORDED TO US IN THE CONSTITUTION. THANKS. NO NEED TO SPEND USELESS TIME ON IT. HOW ABOUT PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF THE FREEDOM TO NOT PRACTICE RELIGION?!?!??!

http://youmademesayit.blogspot.com PhillyChief

What a very nice way of saying, “sorry you filthy atheist, but it’s a done deal. 392 to 9 btw, thank god. Speaking of which, perhaps you should get on board. Still, feel free to write me again in the future. I’ll completely ignore it but hey, writing me means you’re thinking of me and if you’re thinking of me then you’ll probably vote for me.”

Juan

uggghh excuse me but my congresspunk voted no. and im outraged. His name is Ackerman from the lib state of NY. On October of 2007 he voted yes to house resolution 635 recognizing the significance of ramamdan a muslim holiday. On October 29, 2007 he co-sponsored and voted yeah in favor of House resolution 747 recognizing the significance of the hundu holiday of diwali. Why the hypocrisy? To cater to the minorities that live in Queens NY??? Mr. jerk (ugh i mean ackerman) defended his no vote by saying that congress talking about the Messiah is a violation of the seperation of church and state. I’m a latino born in the USA and i bleed red white and blue. why are the leftist libs always on the offense in destroying the basics of this great nation???!!! Do any of you recognize this line?……”And for the support of this Declaration, WITH A FIRM RELIANCE ON THE PROTECTION OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor”. If you dont … study it …its the last line of the Declaration of Independance. This country was founded on religious beliefs.

AnonyMouse

Whereas the word “Diwali” is a shortened version of the Sanskrit term “Deepavali”, which means “a row of lamps”;

I find it hilarious that they felt the need to include that. Seriously, how is that important?

It’s fairly easy to see why someone would vote “yes” to Hinduism and “no” to Christianity. While the Hindu resolution simply recognized Hinduism as a valid religion and requested that we respect their practices, the Christian resolution is full of flattery and butt-kissing. “Christianity is SO IMPORTANT to our country! We were FOUNDED on it! And look how BIG it is! We MUST pander to it!” Seriously, why do we need a resolution to tell us that Christianity is enormous?